I know you all hate it when I link Shaughnessy, but if enjoying the living hell out of his particular brand of performance art on a fine Sunday morning is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

Today he has decided not to pick a particular target and instead has gone in for some carpet-bombing. Francona. Epstein. Papelbon. Beer. Chicken. Managers. Even Heidi Watney. If any one of those things formed the single basis of a column I’d just roll my eyes and say that’s Dan being Dan. But all together in this bile bouillabaisse? It’s kinda glorious.

The highlights involve Shaughnessy calling the Red Sox a “doofus organization,” referring to the quest for Terry Francona’s replacement as a “Cirque-de-so-lame managerial search,” and him thinking that Matt Garza would have somehow been fair compensation for Theo Epstein, which is rather insane.

But you know what? Depending on how accurate Shaughnessy’s claim that — contrary to what the Herald is reporting — ownership only pivoted to Bobby Valentine now rather than had him in mind all along, he may very well have a damn fine point about the organizational disarray.

And even if he’s not: this is really fun to read on some sick level. At least if you’re not a Boston fan.

Because when a bunch of anonymously sourced gossip about Terry Francona’s pain pill addiction comes out, that really helps the managerial search along. And yes, I realize that those leaks originated with the Red Sox. Guess what? You can find a disgruntled member of any organization (not speaking strictly of baseball here) willing to sling a bunch of mud anonymously. The difference between real journalism and poisonous tablid gossip is that a journalist is concerned with finding out the truth of the matter, as opposed to publishing a bunch of sensationalist he-said-she-said BS without any real regard for it’s veracity.

paperlions - Nov 20, 2011 at 11:42 AM

The RS ownership seems more interested in giving the media targets to blame for failure than they are interested in fixing things. They definitely do not act like a coherent organization….this doesn’t happen in any other organization….all teams have media covering them that would love to have juicy tidbits, all teams have disgruntled employees….but only the RS have such information come out so frequently and with such excellent timing (always right after someone leaves, not while they are still with the team).

Most organizations would circle the wagons, the RS don’t…they throw guys under the bus. No amount of media scrutiny can make someone leak information. In addition, after such “leaks”, there is never any attempt at damage control by the RS ownership….the only time they try to spin anything is to protect Luchino or Henry from rumor….everyone else is fair game.

bigleagues - Nov 20, 2011 at 11:33 AM

For organizational disarray, Shaughnessy’s need only look atop his own head.

I wonder if Shaughnessy would be calling them a doofus organization if Papelbon had gotten Reimold to pop out to end the last game of the season. It just seems convenient that the warts of the organization come out after a historic collapse.

I think we all went to high school with a Dan Shaughnessy, the kid who was never happy unless he was unhappy, and who actively worked to sabotage anything going well for him so he could fall back into his comfortable, default position of complaining.

“… and him thinking that Matt Garza would have somehow been fair compensation for Theo Epstein, which is rather insane.”

Craig – Shaughnessy wasn’t saying that at all – only saying that the Red Sox should have held Epstein and asked for a lot, putting them in the negotiating power position. He actually explains it well enough himself, so I won’t here.

Craig! You forgot to highlight Heidi’s departure. She was the best part of NESN broadcasts. As a Blue Jays fan, I am happy that the Red Sox seem to be in disarray. The messenger may be wrong on parts of his message, but the message has several grains of truth.

Personally I’ve always been fond of the baseball aspect of the NESN broadcasts, but to each their own. In any case, not to worry, I’m sure they’ll fire up the Generic Tall Bonde TV Lady cloning machine for you….

Alright, well, I went against my better judgment and read it. I love how he criticizes the Sox for not bringing Papelbon back when he was obviously one of the people shitting all over him after a couple of tough post seasons. And then there’s this gem: “Ben is in the Dominican Republic this weekend, scouting Yoenis Cespedes while the grown-ups resume the managerial search.” I swear…if I were a HBT writer, I don’t think I could manage not to do bullet by bullet takedowns of everything he writes every week.

You know…you’re right…this stuff is kind of fun to read on a sick level, and I AM a Boston fan. I’m kind of enjoying my anger!

Yeah, because making a decision on the $50m dollars the Red Sox might potentially spend on Cespedes to be their right fielder for half a decade is just busy work for Ben, while the “grown ups” do the important work of hiring an easily replaceable middle management functionary.

Yep, and he also credits the Cardinals for finding their manager quickly, leaving out the fact they hired a dude who has never done it before at any level. Where’s Doug Mirabelli at?

Bums me out sometimes, man…like I said I’m a Sox fan, and I know plenty of Sox fans who think the same way Shaughnessey does. The fatalism just astounds me.

dan1111 - Nov 21, 2011 at 5:52 AM

@baseballisboring – Didn’t you know? “Number of days it takes to fill a position” is the most important measurement of performance.

paperlions - Nov 20, 2011 at 11:12 AM

I went ahead and read it as well. Compared to the stuff on WEEI, which I listen to for about 30-60 min a few mornings/week and on the drive home from work once in a while….this column was down right light-hearted and playful. The general consensus is that the contention that Valentine was always a candidate is BS, because 1) the RS FO can’t keep anything a secret, 2) there would be reason to keep Valentine being a candidate a secret, and 3) there is no way he came in for an interview without being detected. In contrast, the account given here of ownership cutting off their new GM at the knees is consistent with the timeline of events over the past 7 weeks.

Not really. I tend to just turn it on while making coffee in the mornings…30 minutes is about as long as I can listen to those guys….sometimes Callahan is so bad, I only make it 30 seconds. The night time guy isn’t as bad…but it is still sports talk radio.

So I’ve seen Shaugnessy on Rome is burning quite a bit and he certainly looks like a fool. So I ask you Boston fans who read much more ofhim, whats his deal? Does he criticize all pf Boston sports or just the Sox? Does he do it because he has obvious bias against them or is he the guy who just osn’t afraid to be the one critisizing? Obviously a lot pf the criticism the Sox have been geting this offseason is warranted but is Shaughnessy being unfair to them or is it all pretty reasonable?

You know what? I’m not sure it actually says enough about what a loathsome troll Shaughnessy is. Right now he’s ripping the Sox for losing Theo and Francona. You know what he spent the last decade or so doing? Ripping the Sox for employing Theo and Francona. Seriously:

The way things are going, Young Theo might don that gorilla suit again, but this time he might need it to hide from an angry Nation of paying customers who want to know why nothing was done at the trade deadline and how you try to win a pennant with no lefty in the bullpen and a collection of dead arms and dead presidents (Mr. Van Buren, I presume) posing as major league pitchers.

Manager Terry Francona, ever the company man, will not state the obvious and tell us, “How am I supposed to beat these guys with this pitching staff?” but he is clearly as frustrated as a lot of Red Sox fans. Yesterday he watched the talented and hard-headed Josh Beckett walk nine (most by a Sox pitcher since Rogelio Moret in 1975) while giving up a career-high nine earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.

I am not from Boston and I am not a Sox fan but to call an organization which has won three championships in the last 10 years a “doofus organization” just reeks of the worst kind of reporter. The type prone to making bombastic statements for the sole purpose of maiking himself the focus of everyone’s attention (whether that attention be good or bad).

From everything I have read about Shaughnessey, he seems like that exact type of reporter unfortunately.